Daily Downer: It Could Take 80 Years For Women To Get Paid As Much As Men

You may have a few years before you enter the workforce full-time, but researchers are already making predictions about how much you'll make long-term, and what the working world will be like for both women and men. Unfortunately, in terms of gender equality, the forecast is pretty sucky: You might not get paid as much as a man for your entire career! According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, the gender pay gap won't even out until long after you retire.

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Sure, things have been improving for women at work for the last few years. But researchers found progress is still so slow that, if it continues this way, workplaces won't be entirely gender equal for another 81 years!

And the United States is definitely not leading the way here: Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark round out the top five countries for gender equality overall. America ranked number 20 on the list, between Canada and Ecuador. And it's way down in 65th place regarding equal pay for equal work, and fared even worse when it comes to women in political power.

The report also points out that it's in a country's best interest to close its gender gap. "Because women account for one-half of a country's potential talent base, a nation's competitiveness in the long term depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its women," the group wrote. (Yes! Duh.) So the U.S. would benefit from paying its women more, as would any country. Hopefully these findings will inspire more women AND men to fight for greater gender equality!

What do you think of the findings? How do you think our country is doing in terms of gender equality? Comment below!